The Memphis appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1886-1890, 1887-03-27
SOME CARPET BAGGRRS.
ONE WHO Is FIGURiTIvELY "ON
HIS UPPERS."
They Came south With the Army,
but Not One OF Them Rem 3iHs
IL Public Life.

ESPECIAL CORRESPONDENCE OF THE APPEAL.
WASHINGTON, March E.-"Live!
Why, | don't live anywherel I'm
adrift, broke, figuratively, on my up
pers" The speaker was Gen. W. T.
Clark, some time member of Congress
from Galveston, Tex and subsequent
" for many years special agent OF the
Internal Revenue Bureau. He was
one of the "carpetbaggers' who came
to Washington to represent the
South when the Con iederate States
were reconstructed, and his presence
at the National Capital recalled the
days when these roundly abused
statesmen we're met here at every
turn, in the Capitol and upon Penn
sylvania avenue. Mr.. Blaine, in his
book, has said that these Northern
gentlemen who first represented
Southern States were better men
than they got credit for being, and
that the task they undertook was one
of the greatest difficulty. Looking
back fifteen or sixteen years and re-
calling my acquaintance with these
men, | am inclined to agree with
Mr.. Blaine. They represented the
idea of loyalty to the Union and not
the white people who lived in their
districts and States, who at first re-
fused to take any part 10 politics.
Gen. Clark, like many Of his car
petbag" associates, went South as a
soldier, and that he was a good one
has been proved by the rapidity with
which he rose to the rank of Brevet
Brigadier General. He never was a
man Of much weight, politically, but
he made up for what he lacked by
his activity and push. He didn It 20
back to Texas after his term in Con
gress expired, but became one of the
most lively internal revenue agents
in the service. | met him in New
York and Utah, and all the way
along, and he always seemed to be on
the dead jump" Think his official
record was good one. Finally, he
had an attack Of that terrible malady,
a desire to own newspaper, and
bought an interest in the Fargo (Da
kota) Argus. The Office was burned
out three times, and twice it rose
from the ashes, but each time it lost
some OF its eyes, and it scared more
uncertainty and laboriously. 1.-The
third tine" said Gen. Clark, II
stood on the sidewalk with only the
clothes | wore, and they needed a
hat and collar to make the outfit
complete" During the past year he
has earned a precarious living deliv-
ering lectures descriptive of the pan
dramas of battles that have been so
popular in many cities. He came to
Washington upon hearing that the
place of Librarian of the Senate was
vacant, and applied for it.
" | see you didn't get the Office"
said to Gen. Clark, meeting him
few days later.
No, an ex-C Confederate Virginian
got it, of course" he said. 1.-The
Senate is a Republican body, and
had the promised support OF many of
the leading Senator's. But it was of
no use. What do you think one of
the Republican Senators told me
yesterday? That | was a - fool |
for going into the army. You ought |
to have staid at home like some of |
the rest of us and got rich he said,
and ! I'm blamed if he isn't right"
" What do you intend to do now?"
Anything by which | can earn
dollar. Can you give me job?"
The meeting with Gen. Clark sug-
gested on inquiry as to the present
whereabouts of some of the better
known of the carpetbaggers," and
so | sat down with Col. French, for
many years Sergeant at Arms Of the
Senate, and together we traced out
the careers Of most OF them.